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West Bengal to get 120 new AYUSH dispensaries

Kolkata, Feb 25 IBNS | 1 year ago

The West Bengal government will set up 120 new AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy) dispensaries in government-run hospitals in a bid to propagate alternative medicine alongside the allopathic medicines.

Minister of State for health Chandrima Bhattacharya said of the 120 new dispensaries, 70 will be Homeopathic, 40 Ayurvedic and 10 Unani.

The government will recruit 360 personnel to man the new dispensaries.

"One doctor, a pharmacist and a general duty staff will be recruited for each of the new dispensaries," she said adding the decision was taken by the Cabinet headed by chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

There are 1,352 government hospitals in the state; of them 605 hospitals currently have AYUSH dispensaries.

These include 409 homeopathic and 196 ayurvedic dispensaries.

With the addition of 120 new dispensaries, the total number of AYUSH dispensaries in the state will go up 725.

The Cabinet also extended the West Bengal Health Scheme by a year till 2015.

"The scheme which is meant for state government employees was to expire in March this year," state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Partha Chatterjee said.

Unlike the system of reimbursement that existed before, the employees would now enjoy the benefit of a cash-less treatment of up to Rs 1 lakh at empanelled hospitals, he added.